PORT ST. LUCIE, FLA. (WSVN) - - Body camera footage showed danger on duty for a police officer. Now, this officer has a message for distracted drivers, as he recovers from being hit by a car.
Richard Mazzio has a hard time getting around these days and needs help everywhere he goes. It’s not the life this Port St. Lucie Police officer is used to, but everything changed a week ago, last Tuesday.
“I’m just happy to be alive, to be honest,” Mazzio said.
Mazzio was directing traffic after a car accident. He doesn’t remember what happened next, including a car hitting him.
“I hit the bumper, and the bumper cut my knee,” Mazzio said, “and I went on top of the car, on top of the windshield and flew into the swale.”
Mazzio’s bodycam didn’t show much. One moment he’s upright, the next moment he’s not. He just saw this video for the first time.
“Honestly, it brought a tear to my eye,” he said. “You watch it and just wish people could be a little bit more cautious.”
And that’s why Mazzio is talking to us. He wants to be a message to drivers: pay attention, especially in areas where people are working.
“Don’t rubberneck, don’t be on your phone, don’t be distracted,” he said.
Mazzio said in his more than 20 years on the job, he has saved a few lives. He wonders if maybe that’s why he’s still around today.
“Maybe this is the angels or the people coming back. It’s not my time. It’s just not my time,” Mazzio said.
A week later, doctors are still trying to evaluate mazzio’s injuries — and can’t say when or even if he’ll return to work.
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